Rufous-collared kingfisher

Actenoides concretus

Photo by Sombat Kongwithtaya (Internet Bird Collection)

Common name:
rufous-collared kingfisher (en); guarda-rios-de-coleira-ruiva (pt); martin-chasseur trapu (fr); alción malayo (es); Malaienliest (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Coraciiformes
Family Alcedinidae

Range:
This species is found from extreme southern Myanmar and Thailand, across the Malay Peninsula, and into Borneo, Sumatra and adjacent islands in Indonesia.

Size:
These birds are 23-24 cm long and weigh 60-90 g.

Habitat:
The rufous-collared kingfisher is mainly found in the understorey and mid-storey of tropical rainforests, also using tall, regenerating logged forests. They are present from sea level up to an altitude of 1.700 m.

Diet:
They feed mainly on large arthropods, including isopods, cicadas, beetles, mantids, spiders and scorpions, but also take fish, snails, small snakes and lizards.

Breeding:
Rufous-collared kingfishers breed in December-June. They are monogamous and both sexes participate in burrow excavating the nest burrow, located on a low bank or man-made ditch, usually near a stream. The female lays 2 eggs which are incubated for about 22 days. There is no available information on the fledgling period.

Conservation:
IUCN status - NT (Near-Threatened)
This species has a very large breeding range, but is suspected to be declining at a moderate rate as a result of deforestation. Rates of forest loss in the Sundaic lowlands have been extremely rapid, owing partly to the escalation of illegal logging and land conversion, with deliberate targeting of all remaining stands of valuable timber including those inside protected areas. Forest fires have also had a damaging effect. The magnitude of these threats may be allayed by this species tolerance of hill forests, which are under less pressure from logging and agricultural conversion.